Wed Nov 19, 2008 at 14:02

By a three-vote margin, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee today recommended that Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman be given the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee, but a final decision will most likely be made by the full Democratic Caucus Thursday. The Steering Committee voted 25-22 in favor of Waxman to replace Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, according to lawmakers leaving the meeting.

If it's true that the freshmen are breaking heavily for Waxman, and older baron committee chairs are going for Dingell, this adds a lot of firepower to Waxman's case. Dingell is a vindictive guy, so his case rests on the notion that if you don't vote for him you're going to have problems with the person who will naturally be the Chair of Energy and Commerce. Cracking the image of inevitability is key to letting members know it's safe to go against Dingell.

The Lieberman fight was discouraging but quite expected. I'm with Jerome, Ezra, Digby on this one, it's a significant marker in how progressive Congress will be. If we get a Waxman led E&C Chair, an FCC favorable to net neutrality (run by gamers), and a Treasury Secretary who is not Larry Summers, I'll take Lieberman in the Senate. Obama wanted him, he got him, and now Obama can manage him.

Still, this House contest is not a done deal. Given that it's impossible to vote count from the outside and those who try look a bit foolish, I'm not too confident that these results mean what I hope they mean. But it's undeniable that Dingell's claims that he's going to win this one easily are simply wrong, and the notion that this is a more conservative Democratic caucus is being put to a very real test.

... The members of the steering committee are in the comments, and they tilt slightly liberal. So it's going to be close if Waxman gets it.

He obviously had no qualms about getting involved in internal Senate affairs with the Lieberman dealio. And energy is a big issue for him, and I'm sure he'd prefer Waxman to chair this committee. So what do you think, is he working votes behind the scenes?

The House seems to be moving in the opposite direction of the Senate. The leadership is becoming more liberal, while the opposite is the case in the other chamber. Perhaps the new fight over the next two years will be House vs. Senate.

Finding a less heinous Republican to chair these things is what we did from 2000-2008. That time is over. Move on and look for picks that are actually good, not just good relative to the cartoonish suckitude of the Bush administration.

I would prefer Sheila Bair to Larry Summers, and I think she would be more progressive than Summers. I also think it is pretty important for the next Treasury secretary to be somebody who doesn't come from a big Wall Street firm, and so I would also probably prefer Bair to Rubin or Corzine.
Republicans certainly don't have a stranglehold on supporting mindless corporate deregulation.

That isn't to say that there aren't better options than Bair, I'm sure there are. But I think that even though she is a Republican, she would be better than a substantial fraction of Democrats floated for Treasury Secretary.

You heard he was actually being considered by the Obama campaign? He would a superb choice - a breathtaking appointment - especially considering the Rahm-Clinton-Daschle medicine I'm currently being forced to swallow.

We need someone as Treasury Secretary who actually predicted the financial crisis, not someone who at least indirectly caused it, like Larry Summers.

- The House has more progressives than the Senate.
- Because there are nearly 500 Representatives, the House isn't susceptible to the same clubby atmosphere as the smaller Senate.
- Dingell, at 82, is probably closer to ending his career than the 66-year-old Lieberman. There is less "fear" of Dingell hanging around to backstab and sabotage Democratic efforts in the future. (Of course, this argument completely ignores the fact that CT won't give Lieberman another Senate term & Dingell could hold on to his seat forever).

I agree that it doesn't seem logical for Dingell to be pushed out while the traitorous Lieberman remains. But, I do think Waxman deserves the Chairmanship. Dingell is better than Lieberman, but he's not better than Waxman.

The Steering Committee that met today is the Committee for the 111th Congress, you're using the 110th Steering Committee. The 111th Congress Democratic Steering Committee membership was chosen yesterday (Tuesday) So many of the people are the same but some aren't notably those who are no longer a part of the caucus (like Emanuel) but also the regional representatives have to deal with term limits so people like Brad Sherman are no longer on the steering committee because their term is up. It's hard to get find the list since the House Democratic Steering Committee doesn't have a website unlike their Senate counterpart.